The Calligraphy of Mishkin-Qalam
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Julie Badiee, The Calligraphy of Mishkin-Qalam, bahai-library.com.
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The Calligraphy of Mishkin-Qalam*
Julie Oeming Badiee and Heshmatollah Badiee

Abstract
This article will consider the life and work of Aqá Husayn-i-Isfahání, called
Mishkin-Qalam. Known for his outstanding ability at calligraphy, Mishkin-
Qalam was invited to work at the court of the Qájár ruler Násiri’d-Din Shah
during the late 1850s. In the 1860s the artist became caught up in the events
surrounding the birth of the Bahd’i Revelation, and he moved to Edirne to be
near its exiled founder Bahď u’lláh. Intrigues at the court o f the Ottoman Sultan
led to the arrest of Mishkin-Qalam and to his subsequent imprisonment in the
fortress of Famagusta on the island of Cyprus. The discussion will center on tty
calligraphic compositions created by Mishkin-Qalam during his stay in
Famagusta and also on those done during his last years when he rejoined
Bahd’u lláh in the city of ‘Akkd. The roots of his artistic expression in Islamic
calligraphic traditions will be considered as well as the extent to which his
forms were adapted to proclaim the message of the Bahd’i Faith.

Résumé * *
Cet article présente la vie et l’oeuvre de Aqá Husayn-i-Isfahání, connu aussi
sous le nom de Mishkin-Qalam. Célèbre pour son extraordinaire talent de
calligraphe, Mishkin-Qalam a été invité à travailler à la cour du souverain
Qâdjars, le Shah Nasiri’d-Din, vers la fin des années 1850. Vers 1860, lartiste
s’est trouvé impliqué dans les événements qui ont entouré la création du
mouvement bahď i, et il s’est établi à Edirne pour être à proximité du fondateur
Bahď u’lláh, en exil. Des intrigues fomentées à la cour du Sultan ottoman
amenèrent /’arrestation de Mishkin-Qalam et, par la suite, son emprisonnement
dans la forteresse de Famagusta dans T île de Chypre. La discussion aura pour
le sujet les compositions calligraphiques créées par Mishkin-Qalam pendant son
séjour à Famagusta et aussi celles composées à la fin de sa vie quand il a rejoint
Bahď ú’lláh dans la ville ď Acre. On examinera les origines de son expression
artistique dans la tradition calligraphique islamique et on étudiera aussi à quel
point ses formes étaient aptes à proclamer le message de la foi bahaie.

* A version of this material was presented to the North American Historians of Islamic
Art in a meeting of the College Art Association at the Metropolitan Museum of Art held
in February, 1990. The authors would like to acknowledge materials sent to them by
Gol Aidun, whose own research on Mishkin-Qalam was cut short by her tragic death
while in India in 1987. This article is dedicated to her memory.
** French translation provided by Colette Henriette.
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Resumen *
Este articulo considéra la vida y obra de Aqá Husayn-i-Isfahání, llamado
Mishkín-Qalam. Conocido por su excelente caligrafía, Mishkín-Qalam fue
invitado a trabajar en la corte del monarca Qájár el Sháh Nasirťd-Dín,
durante los últimos aňos de la década de 1850. Durante la década de los 1860
el artista participó en los acontecimientos que acompaňaron el nacimiento del
movimiento Bahâ’i, y se traskadô a Edirne para estar cerca del jindador
exiliado Bahď u’llâh. Las intrigas en la corte del sultán otomano resultaron en
el encarcelamiento de Mishkín-Qalam en la fortaleza de Famagusta en la isla
de Chipre. La discusión se centrarâ sobre las composiciones caligráficas
creadas por Mishkín-Qalam durante su estadia en Famagusta y también
aquellas que hizo durante sus últimos aňos, cuando volvió a encontrarse con
Bahá’u’lláh en la ciudad de Accá. Las raices de su expresión artistica en la
tradición islámica de caligrafía serán consideradas tanto como la manera en
que sus formas fueron adaptadas para proclamar el mensaje de lafe Bahà’i.

his article will explore the calligraphy of Áqá Husayn-i-Isfahání, better known
T    by the honorific title, Mishkín-Qalam, or "the musk-scented pen” (figure 1).
Although trained in the Islamic tradition of the calligraphic arts and capable of
attaining a high station at the Persian court of Násiri’d-Dín Sháh. Mishkín-Qalam
chose to use his artistic talents for service to the BaháT Faith, a choice that caused
an unprecedented transformation both in his calligraphy and in his life.

Figure 1. Photograph of
Mishkín-Qalam. Reprinted
from Balyuzi, Eminent
Bahá' is 271

* Spanish translation provided by Isabel Valida.
The Calligraphy o f Mishkin-Oalam                                3

Áqá Husayn-i-Isfahání came from a well-known merchant family of Isfahán in
Iran. The family seems to have come originally from Khurásán and still
maintained business interests in the city of Mashhad. Interestingly, this family
played a crucial role in Edward Granville Browne’s first contact with the Bahà’is
during his famous “year amongst the Persians.” It was in February 1888 that the
English Orientalist first spoke to a relative of Mishkin-Qalam, the merchant Mirza
Javád who, at some risk to himself, confided to Browne, “I am a BábÍ.” This
confession began the chain of events that would lead Browne to his lifelong study
of the Bábí-Bahá’í Faiths (Browne, A Year 223).

The Calligraphic Tradition in Islam
The young Husayn-i-Isfahání grew up in Muslim Iran of the nineteenth century
and, as a talented calligrapher, absorbed the time-honored traditions of that art.
Calligraphy, or the art of beautiful writing, was considered the highest of all art   *
forms in the Muslim world. Arabic letters were essentially the language of God,
for it was in Arabic that the Qur’àn was revealed. If, in Christianity the Word
was made flesh in the human form of Christ, in Islam the Word was embodied
in the Q ur’àn, a direct Revelation from God. Given the importance of the
Arabic script and its religious meaning, it is not surprising to find words and
letters to be the basic “subject m atter” of Islamic art. The letters appear
everywhere—on ceramics, on textiles, on glass, and as architectural decoration
on mosques. The didactic function of images in the Christian churches was
accomplished in the mosque by the bold and beautiful letters of the verses of the
Qur’àn, or with the names of God, his Messenger Muhammad, and the four
Rightly Guided Caliphs. It is no wonder that the history of art in Muslim lands
begins with calligraphy as the most respected of all art forms.
No educated Muslftn would neglect the skills of calligraphy, for in Muslim
lands the connection between moral rectitude and calligraphic excellence was
often made. In the ninth century, the Muslim ruler of Khurásán addressed this
letter to an underling:

We were willing to accept your excuse, but in view of your bad handwriting we
changed our mind. If you had been truthful in stating your case, the movement of
your hand would have aided you. Or, do you now know that a beautiful handwriting
speaks for the writer, makes his arguments convincing and enables him to obtain
what he wants? (Welch, Calligraphy 33)

A lifetime of work might go into the cultivation of the ability to write the
perfect forms of letters— a goal not easily attained. The following story
concerning an event that was alleged to have occurred after a great earthquake
in Tabriz in 1777 illustrates this point:
4            T H E J O U R N A L OF B A H À ’ Î S T U D I E S               3.4.1991

The calamity fell in the middle of the night. At dawn survivors were running hither
and thither hoping to find those buried in the debris who might still be alive. One
search party discovered a spark of light from deep down in the basement of a ruined
house. They set to work frantically, hoping to effect a rescue. When they finally dug
their way through, they discovered a man sitting on the floor bent over a small piece
of paper, working by the light of a candle, intensely absorbed in writing. They called
to him to hurry out, more shocks were coming, and the ruins were still dangerous; but
there was no response. He bent over his work, still absorbed. Several times they
shouted to him, till finally he looked up, asking why they were disturbing him. When
informed that the town had been almost demolished by an earthquake, that thousands
had been, and there was hardly time left for him to escape, he replied: “What is all
that to me?” and proudly exhibited his paper on which was a perfect waw, a
particularly difficult letter to make. “After many thousands of trials I have at last
achieved one that is absolutely perfect,” he said, “and such a perfect letter is worth
more than the whole city.” (Quoted in Welch, Calligraphy 34)

Islamic calligraphy developed into a number of recognizable styles— the
vigorous, square kufic of early Islam, the beautiful, flowing thulth with its
emphasis on the vertical alefs and lams, the elegant nashki and the small, fine
letters of the nasta'liq. A later style, the shikastih, was the favored writing style
of Qájár Iran. The word shikastih means “broken,” and the beauty of the letters
lies in the sense of the delicately floating quality of the words with their long,
drooping tails, almost like tresses of hair. This is one of the scripts employed by
both the Báb and BaháVlláh.
Islamic calligraphy also developed into another popular art form in which
illustrated birds and beasts were made up of the letters of the Arabic alphabet.
Qádí Ahmad in his seventeenth-century treatise on calligraphers and painters
wrote that a certain Mauláná Mahmud Chapnivis of Herat “invented a style of
writing in which combinations of letters formed images of men and beasts”
0Calligraphers 132-33). This technique has been variously dated as having
begun in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It became particularly popular in the
nineteenth century, with the most common subjects being those of a lion
(associated with ‘All) or a bird, often a parrot, usually made up of the letters
forming the quranic invocation hismťlláh al-rahmán al-rahim (in the name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate) (figure 2). Mishkin-Qalam would prove
himself to be proficient in all of these forms of calligraphy. Examples of the
diversity of his calligraphic forms can be seen in his copy of some of the verses
from The Hidden Words o f Baha u’lláh in nasta'liq, shikastih, and naskh
(figure 3). It was later in his career that he developed his proficiency in the
depiction of calligraphic birds.

Mishkin-Qalam’s Early Years
When Áqá Husayn-i-Isfahání was about twenty-five years old, he set out for
Mashhad to settle the business accounts of his late fnllier. The first leg of his
The Calligraphy o f Mishkin-Oalam                                   5

Figure 2. ALBUM LEAF WITH CALLIGRAPHIC BIRD. A parrot formed of Arabic
letters spelling out the Muslim invocation “In the name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate.” Iran, 1834-35. Cincinnati Art Museum, Fanny Bryce Lehmer Fund

Figure 3. Verses from The Hidden Words o f Bahá’u1lláh. The calligraphy is by Mishkrn-
Qalam and is in the nasta'liq, naskh. and shikastih styles. 1881-82. Reprinted from
Balyuzi, Bahá’u lláh: The King ofGIoiy 161
*

6              T H E J O U R N A L OF B A H Á Í S T U D I E S                3.4.1991

journey, however, led him to Tehran, and it is here, the story goes, that his
artistic abilities became known to the royal court when he did a quick sketch of
Nasiri’d-Din Shàh’s Prime Minister as he walked through the bazaar. According
to the accounts of this event, Mishkin-Qalam did this portrait in a technique
known as khatt-i-nakhún in which the image is engraved with a fingernail into
the back of a sheet. This encounter ultimately led to an appointment for Aqá
Husayn-i-Isfahání as tutor to the Crown Prince. His work became known in the
court, and Nasiri’d-Din Sháh himself was said to have given the artist the title
Mishkin-Qalam (Ishraq-KMvarí. Núrayn 72-83).
The central event in Mishkin-Qalam’s life, however, was not his elevation to
a high position in the Qájár court, but his encounter with the BaháT' Faith. This
encounter occurred on a leave of absence from the Shah’s court when Mishkin-
Qalam was returning to Isfahán to visit his family. On the way he met Siyyid
Mihdi, a devout BaháT who told him about Bahà’uTlàh. In an interview in 1979
with Gol Aidun, Hand of the Cause Mr. ‘AbduT-Qasim Faizi recounted the
story of Mishkin-Qalam’s acceptance of the BaháT Faith:

. . . before Mishkin Qalam accepted the BaháT' Faith, he was a “dervish” with long,
flowing hair, detached from the world and attached only to his calligraphy. One day,
while he was breaking his journey, he was given a room to share with a stranger.
When Mishkin-Qalam entered the room, he greeted the stranger with the invocation
"Yá Alláh!” (O God!). The stranger who happened to be a BaháT, asked him whether
he knew God since he had mentioned His name. Mishkin-Qalam replied, “Of
course.” The stranger replied, “No, for you must know the Prophet of your time to
know God.” The stranger then told Mishkin-Qalam all about Bahâ’u’llâh, and by
dawn the latter accepted the BaháT' Faith and the next day accompanied the stranger
on his journey towards Baghdad and eventually came into the presence of
BaháVUáh in Adrianople. (Aidun, “Mishkin-Qalam” 25)

In the unpublished second volume of his history, Nabil gives the account of
how he found Mishkin-Qalam quite ill in the city of Aleppo. It was here that
Mishkin-Qalam became truly confirmed in his new Faith (Nakhjavání, Four on
an Island 22). ‘AbduT-Bahá tells us that Mishkin-Qalam “crossed the great
distances, measured out the miles, climbing mountains, passing over deserts and
over the sea, until at last he came to A drianople” (present-day Edirne)
(Memorials 98). Here he found BaháV Uáh and became one of a group of
devoted disciples happily willing to share Bahà’u’hàh’s exile. In a photograph
taken during this time period (figure 4), Mishkin-Qalam appears in the center of
the back row of a group of BaháTs residing in Edime (Balyuzi, King of Glory
242). Characteristically, he seems to be holding writing materials. After a time,
however, apparently on the order of BaháVUáh, Mishkin-Qalam went to nearby
Istanbul where he created several specimens of calligraphy for the Ottoman
Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Aziz (Momen, Accounts 311). Unfortunately, Mishkin-Qalam
The C alligraphy o f M ishkin-Q alam                             7

had an enemy at court in the Persian ambassador who spoke out against him, and
Mishkin-Qalam was ultimately jailed in 1867 for his association with the BaháTs
(Balyuzi, Eminent B ahď ís 271). M ishkin-Qalam was said to have been
particularly distraught about this occurrence as he had no pen or paper with him.
To quote an account of the incident: “. . . at last, the officials succumbed to his
loud expostulations and, to obtain some peace,provided him with all the writings
material he needed, which greatly pacified him” (Balyuzi, King of Glory 252).

Figure 4. Mishkin-Qalam with the companions of BaháVUáh in Edime. Reprinted from
Balyuzi, Bahď iťltáh: The King o f Glory 242

The Exile to Cyprus
However, greater calam ities were to come. In 1868, it was decided that
BaháVUáh would be exiled to the prison-city of ‘Akká in Palestine. His half-
brother Mťrzá-Yahyá, unsuccessful claimant to the leadership of the BaháT'
community, would be sent to the prison in Famagusta on the island of Cyprus.
To insure that each faction would not operate independently of the other, the
Ottoman authorities sent a group of followers of Mírzá-Yahyá with BaháVUáh
to ‘Akká and four followers of B aháV U áh with Mírzá-Yahyá to Cyprus
(Nakhjavání, Four on an Island). Mishkin-Qalam was one of the four sent to
Cyprus. For a devoted follower of BaháVUáh, this was a calamity of great
dimension; in fact, one of the four exiled to Cyprus was so overcome with
despair that he threw himself into the sea but was resuscitated by the sailors on
shipboard and sent on to the island (Balyuzi, King o f Glory 269).
8          T H E J O U R N A L OF B A H Á ’I S T U D I E S            3 . 4 . 1991

M ishkin-O alam was able to continue his calligraphy in spite of his
imprisonment on Cyprus, and ultimately he was allowed to run a small teashop
on the island. Several examples of his calligraphy remain to us from this period.
The piece illustrated in figure 5 dates from 1877, and the inscription states that
it was done in the ninth year of Mishkin-Qalam’s captivity. The calligraphy is
of the letters contained in the name Husayn-‘Ali, the given name of BaháV lláh,

Figure 5. Calligraphic design with
the name of Husayn-‘Ali in the
“m irror sty le.” Created by
Mishkin-Qalam in 1877 while in
captivity in Famagusta. Courtesy
of the Audio-Visual Department
of the Bahà’f World Centre, Haifa,
Israel

and was created in a style known as ‘aynali, or mirror script. This type of design
consisted of a formula repeated to the right and to the left of an imaginary axis
and was particularly popular in the nineteenth century in Turkey (Schimmel,
Islamic Calligraphy 11). Mishkin-Qalam could have developed his proficiency
in the style during his stay at the Ottoman Court. The use of the given name for
Bahà’u’ilàh may have served as a kind of personal announcement on the part of
Mishkin-Qalam that his faith in B aháV lláh had not wavered in spite of nine
years of imprisonment with the treacherous Mírzá-Yahyá and his followers.
A more elaborate work from the period on Cyprus can be seen in this
double-page composition (figures 6 and 7). The inscription below states that it
was made in Famagusta by “a prisoner of the love of God, He who is the help in
peril, the self-subsisting. These double facing pages were made by the servant at
the gate of Bahá, Mishkin-Qalam in the year 1295” (a .d . 1878). This distinctive
signature appears in all of the major compositions of Mishkin-Qalam and
includes within it references both to the Báb (the Gate) and BaháVlláh.
I he Calligraphy o f Mishkin-Qalam                               9

Figure 6. Right side of a double­
page com position by M ishkin-
Qalam. Famagusta, Cyprus, 1878.
Courtesy of the National Bahà’i
Archives, Wilmette, Illinois

Figure 7. Left side of a double-page
composition by Mishkin-Qalam.
Famagusta, Cyprus, 1878. Courtesy
of the National BaháT Archives,
Wilmette, Illinois

An interesting developm ent in this work is what appears to be a kind of
,/.. ,>upayx design in which Mishkin-Qalam has decorated the piece with cut-out
and pasted floral designs. This type of design echoes similar elements in Qájár
P< noil lacquer works and enamels, which have naturalistic floral decoration
mn< h like that which appears in the plumage of M ishkin-Qalam’s birds. The
odd 11tou of the pointing finger in the neck o f each bird is a m ore unusual
12           T H E J O U R N A L Ol       li A 11 Á *Í S T U D I E S       3.4.199 1

The Release from Cyprus
In 1878 when Cyprus came under British jurisdiction, the Commissioner of
Famagusta described Mishkin-Qalam (figure 9) in these words:

Maskin Kalam. From Korassom IKhurâsânl. Allowed 660 Pias. per month.
Sentence—for life. Been here 11 years. Came here at same time as Subbe Ezel.
Sentenced for religious offence against Porte. 53 years old. Has two families, one
here, and one in Persia. In appearance is a dried-up, shrivelled old man, with long
hair almost to the waist. (Momen, Accounts 307)

Figure 9. Photograph of M ishkin-
Qalam. Reprinted from Browne,
Materials for the Study of the Bábi
Religion 44

A further description by the British authorities explains the reason for the
imprisonment:

“They wished to invent some new religion, and, when pressed, fled from Persia and
settled in Turkey. After a time they again tried to carry out their madness, and were
consequently condemned by the Turkish authorities to imprisonment for life.”
(Quoted in Momen, Accounts 306-7)

Mishkin-Qalam requested permission to leave Cyprus in 1878, but due to
bureaucratic entanglements he had to wait until September 1886, when he was
finally allowed to go to ‘Akká (Momen, Accounts 311). So it was that after
nineteen years of exile Mishkin-Qalam was allowed to leave Cyprus and to join
B aháV lláh. In a photograph probably dating from this period, the artist is
shown in the back row, third from the right, with white hair, visibly aged from
his long ordeal (figure 10). ‘Abdu'1-Bahá wrote a letter to the calligrapher to
celebrate his return to the BaháTs: “O thou divine Mishkin! A thousand praises

The Calligraphy o f Mishkin-Qalam                              13

Figure 10. Mishkin-Qalam (top row, third from right) with the companions of
BaháVlláh in ‘Akká. Photograph courtesy of David L. Smith

be to the One True God that for years thou didst suffer in the path of the
Heavenly Beauty, enduring separation, affliction and captivity, and no sooner
was there some respite in restrictions, than thou didst hasten to the Most Great
P rison, turned thy face away from all else but Him . .               (quoted in
Nakhiavání. Four on an Island 51 ).
It was soon after his reunion with B aháV lláh and the community of the
BaháTs that Mishkin-Qalam painted this beautiful bird (figure 11) now in the

Figure 11. Rooster made up of the
letters spelling out “In the name of
God, the Most Glorious of the
G lorious.” By M ishkin-Qalam.
Bahji, 1887-88. Courtesy of the
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard
University. Gift of John Goelet

14           T H E J O U R N A L OF B A H Á ’ I S T U D I E S               3.4.1991

Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University. The body of the bird is
composed of the letters making up the phrase bismi’llâh al-bahíyyu’l-abhá (in
the name of God the Most Glorious of the Glorious), an invocation common
among the BaháTs. The talon of the rooster rests upon an open book, which
contains a lawh, or tablet, of Bahà’uTlàh that has been written in shikastih. The
Tablet is addressed to a follower named Dia and reads:

He is the Eternal! God bears witness that I have believed in the One at the mention
of whose name those brought near drink the wine of life and those who are sincere
have drunk that which all in heaven and earth are powerless to comprehend, unless
your Lord, the All-Knowing, and all-Wise, has wished them to do so. O Dia, be
patient in adversity, content in worldly matters and firm in your conviction of truth.
Be quick to strive for the good, be humble toward God and be one who overlooks the
shortcomings of other men. Be one who turns from foolish passions and hastens to
the Truth. Be one who is compassionate in the presence of sin. Be one who upholds
God’s covenant and is firm in God’s cause. This wronged one counsels you to these
things and to the fear of God. He counsels you to fidelity and truthfulness, both are
incumbent upon you. Truly, both are incumbent upon you. Blessed are you and
blessed is the one who loves you for the sake of God. Woe to the one who annoys
you and turns from what God has commanded. (This translation appears in Welch,
Calligraphy, cat. no. 71 )

A large cartouche at the side o f the page cont ai ns Mi s hkf n- Oa l a m’s
distinctive signature “The servant at the Gate of Bahá, Mishkin-Qalam, year
1305” (a .d . 1887-88).

Some Unusual Works by Mishkin-Qalam
A later piece of calligraphy dated 1890 contains a different theme, that of a
human face (figure 12). A work like this has connections to Bahà’i themes but
can also be seen to have roots in the Iranian mystical traditions. In fact, before
his association with the BaháTs, Mishkin-Qalam was a Sufi, a member of the
Ni’matu’llâhi order (Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’is 270). Therefore, it would not be
surprising that Mishkin-Qalam would have been influenced by some of the
older Sufi traditions, among them the concepts that had been developed in the
fourteenth century by Fadlulláh of Astarábád. Among other ideas FadluTláh
stressed the importance of the letters of the Arabic alphabet and their numerical
values. Those who followed these ideas were called Hurúfís (the name derives
from the Arabic harf (singular)/ hurúf (plural) meaning “letters” (Encyclopedia
of Islam, s.v. “Hurúfí” 3:600-601). This is, of course, an ancient concept
already well developed in the Phoenician, Greek, and Hebrew traditions and
prevalent in the Eastern Mediterranean area for centuries. It emerged in Islam in
the abjad, a system in which each letter of the alphabet was assigned a specific
numerical value. Both the Báb and Bahà’uTlàh used this system, as it made
The Calligraphy o f Mishkin-Qalam                                   15

Figure 12. Calligraphic design
in the shape of a human face.
By M ishkin-Qalam . 1890.
Courtesy of the National
Bahà’i Archives, Wilmette,
Illinois

their writings more accessible to those trained in the ancient traditions. The
Hurúfís themselves placed so much emphasis on the sacred nature of letters and
numbers that, for them, all of the letters and their numerical values represented
the total of all the emanating and creative possibilities of God and were indeed,
God Himself made manifest (Schimmel, Islamic Culture 106). Thus the Arabic
letters were the archetypes for the entire cosmos (Bausani, “Mystical Language”
234). It was the Hurúfí belief that this divine writing appeared in creation in the
faces of humanity itself and that the features of the human physiognomy were
reminiscent of the shapes of various letters:

The four eyelids and the two eyebrows and hair of the head, there are seven lines, O
just God. Those who had insight and have been granted ‘ilm al-kitáb can understand
the secret written in the human face. (Schimmel, Islamic Culture 106)

Another description reads:
f
Between the two eyes ( ‘ayn) of the friend from the nun of the eyebrows to the mim of
the mouth the nose has drawn an alef on the face of silver. (Schimmel, Islamic
Culture 107) [Authors’ note: ’ayn, nun, mim, alef are all letters in the Persian and
Arabic alphabets.]
«

16           TH E J O U R N A L OF H A I I À ’ Î S T U DI E S               3 . 4.-199 1

The Hurúfí ideas spread into India in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
A poet in the eighteenth century wrote:

Your face is like a Qur’àn copy without correction and mistake which the Pen of Fate
has written exclusively from musk. Your eyes and your mouth are verses and the dot
for stopping, your eyebrows the madda, eyelashes the sign of declension, the mole
and the down the letters and the dots. (Schimmel, Islamic Culture 107) [Authors’
note: The madda is a diacritical mark in Arabic.]

Clearly, Mishkin-Qalam has been strongly influenced by these traditions but has
recast them with a BaháT meaning. Returning to the calligraphic face (figure
12), one may read the poetry in the cartouches to the side, which can be
translated: “From the Dawn of Eternity, O most Sublime of the Sublime, on the
surface of the faces of humanity has been written the name-Bahá.” The letters
making up the head and face are more difficult to read. In fact, it is one of the
characteristics of this style that it be like a puzzle, difficult to comprehend and
not clear at first, or even second, glance. The letters making up the hair and face
(eyes, eyebrows, nose, and hair) of this figure appear to spell out the phrase yá
‘á lfu l-‘alá’ (O Most Sublime of the Sublime) while the ears, the border of the
face, and the neck seem to spell out yá ibn al-haqq (O Son of Truth).1
The use of the number nine in the eye area reflects the importance of this
number in Bábi and BaháT traditions. In the BaháT' teachings the number nine
suggests the unity of all the other numbers in that it is the last new number
before the progression begins again. In the abjad reckoning the number nine is
the total of the numbers assigned to the letters in the word Balm and thus a
symbol for Bahà’uTlàh. Therefore as the poem suggests, the name Bahá is
written upon the human face.

1. The authors have spent many hours struggling with this difficult calligraphic
puzzle and would welcome further suggestions for its interpretation. In connection with
the use of the word haqq (Truth), which is given such prominence in the face, it is
interesting to note that in Bahà’u’llâh’s time there existed in the areas around Baghdad
and northern Mesopotamia a group of people calling themselves ahl-i-haqq (The People
of the Truth). In the early days of Islam, these people believed in the divinity of ‘Alt and
were known generally as the ‘AlíyuTláhí. With the advent of the Baha’i Revelation, a
number of prominent leaders of this group became ardent followers of Bahà’uTlàh; one
composed a book in which he pointed out the prophecies of their ancient texts that had
all been fulfilled in the coming of the Báb and Baha’u’llah. Sidq-’Ali, a dervish from
this background, met BaháVlláh in the mountains of Sulimaniyyih and became such a
devoted follower that while Bahà’u’Uàh was in the barracks of ‘Akká He set aside a
special night each year that would be dedicated to the dervish Sidq-’Ali (Balyuzi,
Eminent Bahá’is 314-21). Perhaps further research on this topic will establish a link
between Mishkin-Qalam’s use of the word haqq in his calligraphic face and the tradition
of these devoted followers of Baha’u’llah.
The C alligraphy o f M ishkin-Q alam                            17

Above the head we can see a calligraphic arrangement, which the Bahà’is
refer to as the ism-i-a'zam , or the Greatest Name of God. Islamic tradition holds
that there are ninety-nine beautiful names of God, but the Greatest Name is that
name “when called by which He (God) answers and when asked by which He
gives” (Encyclopedia of Islam, s.v. “dhikr” 2:223-27). For the Sufis, “the hope
of discovering the Greatest Name of God has inspired many a Sufi who
dreamed of reaching the highest bliss in this world and the next by means of this
blessed name” (Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions 25). For the Bahà’is the sacred
character of the Greatest Name of God, “ Yá Bahá’u’l - A b h á ushers in the time
of the end when all of the prophecies of God are fulfilled and the seekers of the
Greatest Name of God will find their desire.
In a final version of the themes that fascinated Mishkin-Qalam, we can see
in another work (figure 13) a bringing together of a number of his symbolic
elements. Again, the double birds appear holding open books containing verses
from The Hidden Words o f Bahá’u lláh. The use of the mirror-image of the
birds may suggest the Twin Manifestations of God, the Báb and BaháV lláh,
who are both the Heralds and the Proclaimers of the new age. Behind them, like
the Sun of Truth, the face of Light (Bahá) arises from the Dawn of Eternity.
One is reminded of the description of the Seventh Valley of B aháV lláh in
which “on the horizon of eternity the Divine Face riseth out of the darkness, and
the meaning of ‘All on the earth shall pass away, but the face of thy Lord . . .’
(Qur’àn 55:26-27) is made manifest” (BaháVlláh, Seven Valleys 37). (Readers

Figure 13. Double birds and a human face. Courtesy of the Audio-Visual Department of
the BaháT World Centre, Haifa, Israel
O
18          T H E J O U R N A L OF B A H Á ’ í S T U D I E S               3.4.1991

are, of course, reminded that this “face” is meant only in symbolic terms, for the
Supreme Deity is not thought of as being anthropomorphic in either the Islamic
or BaháT traditions).
In looking at the work of Mishkin-Qalam, we may have an interesting
glimpse of the development of imagery in the early stages of a religion. The
Baha’i Faith at its beginnings faced the same challenge Christianity did, that is,
a working out of its relationship to the religion from which it first developed
and a determining of the extent to which its followers still identified with the
traditions of their ancestors or the extent to which they struggled to create
images that would suggest something new. Although Mishkin-Qalam's art work
is well within the Islamic idiom of the time in which it was created, its purpose
was different and that was essentially to proclaim the advent of a new faith. The
old visual vocabulary of the Islamic tradition was charged with new meanings
and expressed a new message to the viewer. The use of letters to make up these
images specifically recalls Shi’ih messianic beliefs that when the Qà’im appears
“the entire cosmos (although seemingly the same as before) is in reality
destroyed and then recreated anew by the Word of the Divine Manifestation”
(Bausani, “Mystical Language” 238).

Mishkin-Qalam’s Last Years
In the later years of his life, Mishkin-Qalam travelled to Egypt, Damascus, and
India where he became involved in the first publications of the BaháT Faith in
that land. He wrote the words of the BaháT' Revelation in his beautiful hand so
that they could be mass printed for others to read (Balyuzi, Eminent Bahďís
121). Mishkin-Qalam also continued his figurai compositions as in this work
done in India and dated 1905 (figure 14). The familiar double birds are present,
yet their type has been changed from a rooster to that of a dove with a long,
drooping tail. The birds hold open books that contain verses from Bahà’uTlàh’s
Hidden Words', Mishkin-Qalam’s signature is at the lower center portion in a
decorative cartouche. The birds turn around to face a tree, which also contains a
section of the The Hidden Words. The center tree must surely refer to the
Sadratu’l-Muntahá, “the Divine Lote-Tree.” Described in the Qur’àn, this was
the “ ‘Tree beyond which neither men nor angels can pass,’ and which stands in
the Seventh Heaven, the highest Paradise, at the right hand of the throne of God”
(Gail, introduction Epistle by BaháVlláh, xiii). The calligraphic page brings to
mind the following passage from Bahà’u’Uàh’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf:

O Shavkh! Thou hast heard the sweet melodies of the Doves of Utterance cooing on
the boughs of the Lote-Tree of Knowledge. Harken, now. unto the notes of the Birds
of Wisdom upraised in the Most Sublime Paradise. . . . Give ear unto that which the
Tongue of Might and Power hath spoken in the Books of God. . . . At this moment a
Voice was raised from the Lote-Tree beyond which there is no passing, in the heart of
the Most Sublime Paradise, bidding Me relate unto thee that which hath been sent
The Calligraphy o f Mishkin-Qalam                                19

Figure 14. Two doves at the SadratuT-Muntahá. Bombay, 1905. Design and calligraphy
by Mishkin-Qalam. A photograph of this piece, the location of which is now unknown,
was sent to the authors by Gol Aidun

Figure 15. A photograph of Mishkin-
Qalam near the end of his life.
Reprinted from Balyuzi, Bahau’Uàh:
King of Glory 249
20           T H E J O U R N A L OF B A H A ’ I S T U D I E S                  3.4.1991

down in the Books and Tablets, and the things sfj/ikdn by My Forerunner (the Báb],
Who laid down His life for this Great Announcement. . . . (Bahà’u’Hàh, Epistle
140-41)

It was only at the very end of his life that Mishkin-Qalam returned once
again to Bahji (figure 15). Hearing that the calligrapher was old and weak,
‘Abdu’l-Bahá requested that Mishkin-Qalam return to ‘Akká in the year 1905.
One of Mishkin-Qalam’s last services to the BaháT Faith was to design the
calligraphic inscriptions carved on the marble sarcophagus given by the BaháTs
of Burma to hold the remains of the Báb. In an emotional memorial service held
on March 21, 1909, the sarcophagus was set into the hillside tomb built by
‘Abdu’l-Bahà on the slopes of Mount Carmel. The signature of Mishkin-Qalam
appears on the sarcophagus; indeed, his first wish had been to sign himself as
the servant of ‘Abdu’l-Bahà. But, at ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s order, the signature was
changed to the characteristic “servant at the Gate (Báb) of Bahá” (Mooghen,
“Khoshnevísán-i-BaháT” 147). Mishkin-Qalam was cared for at Bahji until his
death in 1912. ‘Abdu’l-Bahà tells how “when I was absent, he left this darksome,
narrow world and hastened away to the land of lights” (Memorials 101).
There is a moving portrait of Mishkin-Qalam in his old age, which appears
in a novel by E. S. Stevens entitled The Mountain of God :

An old, old man whose scanty white hair flowed half-way to his waist beneath his
turban, sat on a bed within a simple little room. He wore the native Persian dress. . . .
An elaborate specimen of Persian script in black and gold, framed and hung on the
wall was the only ornament which the room boasted. . . . “And now, Mírzá
Mushkín, I beg you to show me the writing if it is finished. . . .” The old man
shuffled off the bed, and going to a wooden chest took from it, after a little search, a
roll of parchment-like paper. Then he drew his tottering old limbs beneath him on the
bed again, and handed the roll to the Persian. .. .
“Your hand does not shake!”
“Eh hamdu’lillâh! My hand is sure. They do not understand how to write
nowadays, they are too quick. The values of the letters are nothing to them. They
even write on tables. There is only one way to write perfectly, and that is to hold the
paper in the palm of the hand. And when one is learning, one should practise by
night—there is no light like candlelight. But there are few who can write. . . .”
His spare white hair, long like a woman’s, betokening his rank, gave him an
eldritch look, as if something not of this world. But there was a youthful triumph in
his worn, old eyes that had worked so long over the making of beautiful things.
(Stevens, Mountain 110-12)2

2. Excerpts from this novel are reprinted in World Order 4.3 (Spring, 1970): 28-52.
t

The C alligraphy o f M ishkin-Q alam                        21

Works Cited

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Unpublished paper delivered at the New England Regional Conference of
the Association for BaháT Studies, 1982.
B aháV lláh. Epistle to the Son o f the Wolf. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 3d ed.
Wilmette: BaháT Publishing Trust, 1988.
--------- . Kitáb-i-íqán (Book of Certitude). Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 2d ed.
Wilmette: BaháT'Publishing Trust, 1950.
--------- . The Seven Valleys and the Fôur Valleys. Trans. M. Gail with A. K.
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Browne, Edward Granville. A Year Amongst the Persians. London: Century
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--------- . Materials for the Study of the Bábi Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge
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Calligraphers and Painters: A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad. Son of Mir-Munshi.
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Khúshih-há’í az Kharman-i-Adab va honar. Landegg, Switzerland:
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Contemporary Accounts. Oxford: George Ronald, 1981.
Nakhiavání. Bahiyyih. Four on an Island. Oxford: George Ronald, 1983.
Safadi, Yasin Hamid. Islamic Calligraphy. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1978.
Schimmel, Anne-Marie. Calligraphy and Islamic Culture. New York: New
York University Press, 1984.
--------- . Islamic Calligraphy. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970.
22        T H E J O U R N A L OF B A H Á ’ I S T U D I E S       3.4.1991

-------- - Mystical Dimensions o f Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1975.
-------- . Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi. London and
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Stevens, E. S. The Mountain of God. London: Mills and Boon, 1911.
Welch, Anthony. Calligraphy in the Arts o f the Muslim World. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1979.
-- The Calligraphy of Mishkin-Qalam (Used by permission of the curator)